Needed
by Render42
Summary: Six strangers are transported to a world entirely different from their own. Will they find their way home? Will they find love there? Will this description ever end? Will they stay in this new land because they are... NEEDED? Rated T for implied language, and other stuff. Very much about the Mane Six. CHAPTER FIVE The ponies walk down main street and notice something decidedly odd.
1. Normal

Chapter One

"Normal"

Steve Rimmel sat in his normal spot in the café, drank his normal coffee, and tried desperately to think of anything but his normal life. He sighed, running his fingers through his brown hair.

_I never really expected this._

As he sipped his now lukewarm mocha, he thought back on the day and couldn't help but laugh to himself. Not laugh loudly; he didn't want to draw attention, but laughed nonetheless. _Jen's an idiot. Why'd I even think that inviting my ex-almost-girlfriend to join my band would be a good idea? Well, it could have been worse. She could have… Never mind, nothings worse than being kicked out of your own band._

He stared off into space and decided to humor himself. I good pity-party is just what the doctor ordered. Just as he was about to commence his wallowing, he was interrupted by a kind voice from behind him.

"Sir, is your coffee okay? You keep scowling whenever you drink it."

He turned to face the waitress behind him. She had a concerned expression on her face… her face! _Wow, how'd I never see HER before?_

"Umm, sir? Are you alright?" The waitress looked even more concerned now that Steve was staring off at something other than space.

Steve shook himself, mentally cursing at his ineptitude where the opposite sex was concerned, and replied, "Sorry, I'm fine. Just thinking about some stuff." He gave a reassuring grin. Well, he hoped it passed for a reassuring grin.

She smiled back. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything."

As she turned to walk away, Steve sighed again. _Really got to stop sighing. Probably causes some kind of medical condition. _Having been shaken from his mopey daydreams, he took the time to look around the café. There were a lot of people in today, and Steve recognized only the barista.

The smallish shop, situated in one of the slightly upper-class neighborhoods in Los Angeles, was usually the haunt of middle aged to elderly patrons. Today, that was quite untrue. The midsized dining area was packed with customers considerably younger than its usual demographic. Actually, most looked to be teenagers.

_Weird._

Off in one corner, it looked like there was a baseball team celebrating a victory. _Ýeah, baseball players only act like that if they'd won. They'd have to be really drunk to act like that after a loss. Do they even serve alcohol here? _Next to them was a group of collage age guys dressed in ratty sweatshirts and nasty jeans. From their matching tattoos they must be… _In the same reading club. Yeah, that's it._

There were several other groups. A few cheerleaders here, a couple of lovebirds there, but Steve's eyes were drawn to the other side of the room. Mostly single customers over there, with a few pairs thrown in. By the door, he saw a nerdy looking young man sitting in front of his computer. He giggled at something on screen, earning a glare from a few nearby patrons. Nerdy didn't seem to care though.

Although some patrons were eyeing Nerdy as he laughed yet again, the man sitting at the table next to him didn't seem to mind his incessant guffaws. The young man sat in his wheelchair, nibbling his muffin and reading a book. He turned slightly, but didn't give any other signs that he noticed the silly noise at all.

_Well, this isn't creepy at all. Just sitting around, observing the lives of everyone around me and commenting on them in my head. Isn't that a sign of some neurological disorder?_

Steve rolled his head back and stared at the ceiling. Life really sucks when this is what passes for fun.

He closed his eyes for a moment, wishing that life didn't suck this much.

As he opened his eyes, an inexplicably brilliant flash of light nearly blinded him, just as the floor began shaking. Steve was tossed from his chair as he heard the panicked exclamations of his fellow customers. _An earthquake? Don't they predict those?_

He tried to stand while rubbing his eyes, but the floor would not cooperate. He tumbled further along the floor until he crashed into one of the baseball players, who fell over with a surprised "Umph!"

When Steve finally was able to see again, he wished he still couldn't. Chaos reigned over the coffeeshop, as patrons and employees alike ran shakily to the door. _Why go out there? It's safer in here._ That's when he noticed that the cars outside the café weren't moving. He was about to ponder this when the roof began to fall downward. A beam struck the young man in the wheelchair, flinging to the ground. The nerd and one of the kids in the yucky clothes ran to help him, but they too were knocked to the ground by another falling beam.

"Come on man, get up!" the baseball player shouted at him. "They need help!"

Steve pulled himself unsteadily to his feet and sprinted to the growing pile of rubble. _This is insane! I could die! But… I'd want them to do it for me. _He continued his mad dash to the hapless trio.

The baseball player arrived at the same time he did, and so did the pretty waitress. The three of them tried to pull the trapped men out of the rubble, but to no avail.

"This isn't working!" he shouted. The waitress looked at him and was about to speak, when a mass of something hit Steve in the head. The last thing he saw was the rest of the roof giving way.

Then he saw nothing.

* * *

Steve woke with a massive headache. And a massive ache in his chest. And a massive ache basically everywhere else as well. And to top it off, literally, he was still covered in rubble.

_Well, at least I'm still alive. At least I think I'm alive. I feel really weird though. Weird, and hurt._

"Hey, anyone else out there?" Steve heard a man's muffled voice from somewhere to his left.

"Yeah," Steve managed to sputter between coughs. "I'm here."

"Me too," another voice replied.

"I'm, ugh, I'm alive," a light tenor sounded somewhere to Steve's right.

He heard what he thought were two other voices, but he couldn't quite make them out.

The first voice, the baritone from the right, spoke, "I'm going to try to get out. I think I can lift some of this… Oh my gosh!"

The voice cut out as the rubble all around Steve was covered in a glowing purple haze. Dust filled Steve's eyes, and he closed his eyes to keep more from coming into them.

He felt the weight lifting off of him, but he still couldn't move or open his eyes, on account of his soreness and the dust.

"Oh my gosh, WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON?" the baritone voice screamed next to him.

"What the feather?" the tenor exclaimed.

"Wha- I don't under-," a distinctly female voice stuttered.

"Holy cupcakes, what is this!?" yet another voice shouted.

He heard sobbing to his right.

Steve tried to open his eyes, but the dust stung too much. As he brought his hands up to his eyes he asked, "Guys? What's going on with-" His hands reached his eyes. Or, rather, his not hands reached his eyes. He opened his eyes despite the dust, and he saw them. Hooves. He had hooves.

"Oh…" was all he managed. He looked past the hooves, HIS hooves, and saw something that scared him for the rest of his life.

"I HAVE A TAIL!" he screamed, and jumped to his feet. But he didn't have feet any more. He fell awkwardly back into the rubble.

"Nonononononono," he muttered as he slammed his eyes shut. _This can't be happening!_

All around him, he heard cries of dismay. He opened his eyes once more and saw five other… horses… rolling around just as he was.

"No way, I am NOT a feathering horse!"

"It's a dream, it's just a dream!"

"What is going on? *sob* Why is this happening?"

"Wh- How- Why-,"

"Dude, I've been on some trips before, but this one takes the cake. Who spiked my coffee?"

Steve was the first to regain his composure. He stood shakily to his feet. _Hooves. What. The. Hay._

He looked around himself and his panicking companions. They were in a library. That looked like a tree. _Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaah._

He turned around to see three horses looking at them, dumbfounded expressions on their faces. One hovered above the ground, kept aloft by her _His? _blue wings. Her rainbow hair was in disarray.

The second was pink, with curly hair that would have made some of Steve's rapper friends jealous. She had the biggest smile on her face Steve had ever seen.

The last one was a light purple, from her hooves to her horn. _HORN? _She seemed the most in shock of the three.

Steve gaped at them for only a minute or so. He shook himself and opened his mouth.

"Uh, hi."

* * *

**AN:**

**Hey guys, hoped you liked it. First attempt at writing a MLP fanfic, or any fanfic in general. Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. I committed a minor faux pas by not naming or describing the characters, but it'll all be explained in the second chapter, which should be out within the week. I also will be posting a blog with images of all the OC's. The link will be in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**

**Render42**


	2. Questions

Chapter 2

"Questions"

"Uh, hi."

If the trio heard him, they didn't give any sign of it. Flamboyant kept hovering, Insane Smiles kept grinning, and Purple gaped at me. The five others who were trapped under the rubble with me were finally stopping their exclamations, and were rising to their feet. Hooves, rather. _Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh._

The first to stand was a violent blue, with black and white hair to put a manga star to shame. And wings! Wings that would have been right at home on a eagle flapped uncontrollably on his back. He also seemed to have clouds or something tattooed to his butt._ Come to think of it, everyone has something on their butts!_

Steve looked at his… flank? Yeah, his flank. Right there, he saw a matching pair of drumsticks on his brown side.

"Where are we?" Bluedude asked in a deep baritone, his face contorted in a look of misunderstanding.

The next pony stood up. He was a deep red, with a dark grey mane. "Isn't it obvious?" Red's tenor was a stark contrast to Blues deep tones. "We're all tripping out and dreaming that we're in Ponyville. Don't worry; I've had dreams like this before."

Red started to walk toward the three dumbfounded ponies, but was stopped by a purple barrier. "HEY!" he yelled, "What's up with the magic Twilight? This is my trip, and I want to enjoy it!" He laughed and started jumping at the barrier, but was pushed back each time. "Hey, this is kinda fun!"

The purple pony jumped back and looked fearfully at Red. She turned and spoke in hushed tones to the other two.

A third pony rose to his, no, HER feet. _Hooves! Oh man, I really hope this is a dream or trip. Or something! _She was a deep green color, with hair the color of Barney the dinosaur. Poking through her hair was a horn. A HORN! She looked at the Red pony and spoke. "This obviously isn't a 'trip' or dream. It is not convoluted enough to be a trip, and who ever heard of six people having the same drug-induced experience? Second, it cannot be a dream because we could wake ourselves up. And, who ever heard of six people having the same dream?'

Red looked at her. "How do I know that you're all here with me? I could be out cold in my bed right now!" He grinned at his own impeccable logic. Green trotted over to him and smacked him with her hoof.

"That's how you know!"

"Hey, you can't go around smacking anypony you choose willy-nilly! It's not nice!" Red rose to his full height, being slightly taller than Greeny. Greeny began her own retort, but Steve wasn't paying them any more attention. He was looking at the floor where two more horses were sitting.

The first was a brilliant white with hair that could make a fire cry at its miserable excuse for an existence. He too had wings, but his were folded over his back and were motionless. He sat looking at his hooves, bawling his eyes out. _Weird._

The second was even weirder. He was looking all around himself with a grin that threatened to split his face in half. His grey skin- _Or hair, or whatever the hay it's called_- was rather drab compared to everyone else, but his eyes were covered by a pair of black glasses. And, just like Greeny, he had a horn.

With the chaos of the Blue horse yelling at the force field, Red and Greeny shouting in each other's faces, Firemane crying, and the grey one grinning like an idiot, something snapped within Steve. He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"QUIET! Everypony SHUT UP!" His nostrils flared as he pawed the ground. Everypony looked at him in stunned silence. Except Red. Red looked at him and giggled.

"Did you just say everypony?"

Steve and Greeny glared daggers at Red and he backed away.

"Okay," Steve begam. "Obviously, something happened to all of us after the roof of the café caved in. The last thing I remember before everything started was a bright flash of light. Did anypony else see this?" Red giggled again.

"Yeah," Blue said. "I saw a bright flash and I was knocked to the ground. I saw the kid in the wheelchair get thrown into the air, and then a geek and a punk ran over to help him. I was trying to help, but got knocked over by some dude. I'm guessing that's one of you guys?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I knocked you over. So you're the baseball player?"

Blue nodded. "That's me. Name's Cyrus." After saying this, he shook himself. "No, that's not my name. My name is… Cyrus. No, that's not my name! My name is… Cyrus! GAH!"

Cyrus the blue pony pounded the ground with his hooves. "I can't say my own feathering name! Hey, that's not what I meant to say either! What the hay is wrong with this feathering place! This gosh darn cousin cupcaking place is changing everything I say! And what the hay are these?" He flapped his useless wings wildly. "I don't understand what is going on!"

Cyrus entered a full blown panic attack. He fell to the ground in a ball and began to cry. This just made Firemane cry harder.

Greeny turned to look at Steve, looking quite confounded. "Wait, if this place is changing your name, will it change mine?" She glanced at Cyrus. "My name is Gwen. Well, that's not what I meant to say." Her confounded face now looked quizzical rather than confounded. _Even as a pony, she's still pretty. Wait. Did I just think what I think I thought?_

Steve turned to her and said, "Let me try. My name's Sticks Rimshot." He paused for a moment, his ears registering what he had just said. "Well, that's definitely not it. Let me try again."

_Steve._

"Sticks."

_Steve._

"Sticks."

_STEVE!_

"STICKS!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He fell on his rump panting. Red continued his giggle fit.

"Well, my name's Nick." Red spoke. "And that's exactly what I meant to say!" He giggle, falling to the floor. "You all get funny names, but I stay the same! Ha!"

Gwen's face contorted in anger. "Stop laughing! Stop, stop stop!" She began kicking Nick, but he just laughed harder. Firemane and Cyrus were still crying hysterically. Sticks _STEVE! _turned to face the Nerd, who was the only one not freaking out uncontrollably.

"Hey," Sticks said. _It's Steve! _"You're the guy who was sitting with the computer in the coffeshop, right?"

Nerdy looked at him, and said with a grin, "Yeah I was. Isn't this place great! I've dreamed of this happening ever since I first saw My Little Pony! And I'm a unicorn here! Just like I wanted to be! My names Penn by the way. Well, actually it's not, but apparently being shifted to Equestria makes us incapable of speaking our human names and replaces them with pony names. It seems to filter all profanity too. So, does that mean that whenever Applejack says 'what the hay' she's trying to curse? This does bear thinking on."

Sticks_/Steve_ Looked at Penn in shock. Had he heard correctly? _My Little Pony?_ No, Penn must have been talking too fast.

"Did you just say 'My Little Pony'?" Sticks asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Yes, I did. To be precise, we are in the fourth generation of the show, as we can tell by the appearance of everything around us. It is odd that our brains are rendering this three-dimensional word to us in this way. It appears two-dimensional, just like the show! I wonder how this is even possible! Are things really two dimensional, or is it just…"

Penn kept talking, but Sticks wasn't listening anymore. My Little Pony. That stupid show for little girls? _That's just… no way. _ Penn's babbling continued, but Sticks was now focused on the ponies outside the force field. _That thought is wrong on so many levels. Ponies and force fields._

They were no longer discussing with each other, and were now just watching the insanity inside the bubble. The rainbow-haired one asked Purple, "Umm, Twilight? That box made the weirdest ponies I've ever met. And I've met Pinky Pie, so that's saying something!"

Twilight the purple pony looked at the flying pegasus. "Rainbow Dash, I already told you, the box didn't create these ponies! It just cast a teleportation spell on them. I can also detect an emotional shift spell, and that's why they are all acting so crazy! The red one has an amusement spell cast on him, the white one has a sadness spell. The green one has a rage spell on her, and the blue has been hit by a confusion spell! The grey one has a wonder spell on him, and the brown one-"

She was interrupted by the pink pony. "Oooh, I know! The brown one is looking at us! He has a 'Can See Pinky, Dashy, and Twily' spell on him!" She began bouncing up and down, with a resounding _Boing! _Every time she catapulted herself into the air.

The one named Twilight turned and faced Sticks. She grinned sheepishly at him.

Sticks grinned back, blushing for some reason. _No way, I do NOT think that pony is pretty! She isn't even the same… Oh Gosh, she is! _

He regained his composure. "Umm, my name is Sticks. You said something about teleportation?"

**AN:**

**Here it is, chapter 2. Not quite what I thought it was going to be, but the characters took me on a journey all their own. Isn't it cool when they do that? Anyways, next chapter will be up soon, and it'll be a lot more about the mane six. I also have made the blog where I have pictures of all the characters posted. After about 9001 tries, I have finally found how to get these images to you guys. The link is in my profile summary thingy. Yeah, I is a vewwy gud werd personz!? As always, reviews good and bad are always welcome!**

**Render42**


	3. Spelled

**AN:**

**I noticed a few problems in the previous chapters and corrected them. I forgot a key point in my descriptions. I didn't say who was what type of pony. If you have already read the previous chapters, I recommend you skim Chapter 2 again, or some plot elements/jokes would be missed. **

**Also, three chapters in 2 days! Whoo-hoo! I probably won't be able to keep this up though, since I'll be playing several times with my band next week, plus I have work. Don't worry; I won't be forgetting Sticks and his buddies just yet!**

**From here on in, the point of view will be different with each chapter. I only stayed in Stick's head for the second chapter to get everyone used to the characters. Now, things get fun.**

**POV: Twilight Sparkle**

Chapter 3

"Spelled"

"Umm, my name is Sticks. You said something about teleportation?"

Twilight looked at the odd stallion standing before her. He was taller than she, with a light brown coat and a dark brown mane. His eyes were green… She shook herself.

"Y-yes I did," she spoke. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and you shouldn't be here!" Twilight groaned inwardly as soon as she spoke. _Why am I so flustered today? Must be all the magic._ Sticks raised one eyebrow. _Well, I already messed this up. May as well go on._

"My friends and I found a magical item when we were in an ancient castle yesterday," she blurted. She took a deep breath and continued. "We brought it back here to the library so I could study it. After a long examination, I determined that the aura emanating from the capsule was an Omnisearch Teleportation Retreiver spell, or OTR for short. The spell was linked to several nearby nodes and ley-lines that provide it with tremendous magical power. The whole spell web was linked to the button on the top of the box. I told everypony not to touch it, but not everypony is a good listener." She glared at Pinkie Pie who just kept bouncing.

"What? You meant that button? Oooh, that makes a lot more sense. I thought you meant to not touch the button next to the door, but that's a doorbell! I thought it'd be silly to not press the doorbell and was going to say something, but Ditzy Doo had an extra muffin and shared it with me, so I was very distracted." The pink party pony hadn't taken a breath through that whole disjointed statement and now was bouncing faster than ever.

Sticks looked warily at the bouncing mare and asked Twilight, "Is something wrong with her? She seems a bit-"

"Crazy?" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Bonkers? Nuts? Loco in the coco? That's because she is. New ponies always react to her like that."

_Did she just say-_

Pinky suddenly stopped jumping. Her insane grin returned to her face as she gasped. So much air went into her lungs that Twilight was surprised that she hadn't floated all the way to the ceiling.

"Oh my gosh, there are six new ponies in town AND I HAVEN'T PLANNED A PARTY YET!" Pinkie shrieked and bolted out the door of the library. All the ponies in the force bubble stopped fighting/laughing/crying to watch the pink blur make her exit.

Twilight sighed. "You had to say it Rainbow…"

"What? She would have figured it out eventually," the pegasus shrugged.

The trapped ponies resumed their ridiculous actions.

Sticks moved uncomfortably on his hooves. "But how did we get here? You said something about a castle, a box, and a bunch of stuff about magic. So your friend pushed a button and we appeared here?"

Twilight cleared her throat. "Yes, once Pinkie pressed the button, the OTR spell activated, trigging a massive magical drain from local node reservoirs. From what I could ascertain, the capsule was created to cast a single inter-" Twilight was just hitting her stride when the library door opened again. Two ponies entered the semi-destroyed libray.

"Twiligh', we came as fas' as we could! We 'eard a big explosion while we were at t'farm and saw smoke in town! Wha' in tarnations happened?" Applejack's hat was askew, and she seemed very out of breath.

"Yes, darling, you really must warn a pony before you go around blowing up libraries and such. Some of us are quite delicate, and you gave us quite a fright!" Rarity tossed her perfect mane back as she viewed the library's floor. "And really, you MUST invite me next time you decide redecorate. This new décor is simply horrid!"

"Yeah Twiligh', wha' happened? Why is everything all… rubbley?" Applejacks eyes moved along the floor until she saw the six ponies trapped in the transparent purple force shield. "Aww, Twiligh', wha' dja do this time? Why'd you trap those poor ponies in there?"

Rarity followed Applejacks gaze and saw the ponies in the bubble as well. Her jaw fell downward. "Why Twilight, did you honestly think you could trap these beautiful stallions in here and keep them all to yourself and Rainbow Dash? Really that is quite cruel of you. There truly aren't enough stallions to go around." She batted her eyelids at the ponies inside the magic dome.

The green pony _Did she already say her name?_ turned to Rarity with foam at the corners of her mouth. "DO. I. LOOK. LIKE. A. STALLION. TO. YOU?!" she screamed. "If I have to be a horse, at least use the proper term! I am a mare! A mare I tell you! MAAAARE!"

By this time, Rarity was hiding behind Applejack, quivering in fear. "Twilight, I think you are quite right to lock them up. Please do not let that one out." She grinned sheepishly at Twilight. "Wherever did these ruffians come from anyways?"

Sticks looked at Rarity, obviously exasperated. "That's what we're trying to find out. So, magic button gets pressed, we appear here, and we're now horses? I don't get it. It sounds like the plot of a bad romance novel or something."

Twilight felt her cheeks redden slightly at the mention of romance novels coming from the other pony's mouth. _Stop it! Seriously, what is wrong with you?_ "Wait, did you just say that the spell made you horses? What do you mean by that?"

Sticks cocked his head as he looked at her. "After we came here, we became horses. Before that we were humans. What would cause that?"

Twilight stared at Sticks for a moment. _Humans. Why have I never come across that term before?_

"What's a human?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "Maybe we should ask Fluttershy. She seems to know about every kind of weird animals ever. It's kinda freaky, actually." Rarity nodded her head in agreement.

"Um, humans aren't animals." Sticks seemed rather affronted by this. He then looked over his shoulder at his companions and their varying stages of insanity. "Well, we usually aren't."

Twilight gazed at the other ponies. "Well, I may not have any idea where you came from or why, but an emotional shift spell is something I CAN deal with." With that, the unicorn turned to the enchanted ponies. As she concentrated on manipulating the ley-lines around her, her horn began to glow a bright purple. She could feel the shift spell surrounding all the ponies except Sticks. _It is odd he wasn't affected… hmm…_ As she focused her energy on the webs, she could feel them unraveling. For an eternity that lasted a second, she fought with the spell, her power attacking the ancient magic. Then the webs were simply gone.

Twilight fell to the ground, flanks heaving. Fighting a node spell while holding a shield spell up was just too much to handle. The shield collapsed, and all the ponies stopped their hysteria.

All except for the Red horse who continued laughing. "Hey Gwen, I just realized why you're being so violent. It's because you're horny! Bwahahaha!"

Sticks hung his head, Gwen groaned, and Twilight rolled her eyes. _It's gonna be a long day…_


	4. Hope

**AN:**

**Well, I'm back a bit before I expected. I just couldn't stay away! The ponies! They are calling me! All kidding aside, I'm really excited about this chapter. I'm finally getting into what I wanted the story to be about in the first place. There may not be as many snarky remarks breaking the narrative up, but I hope you'll like it anyways.**

**Also, I'm looking for someone to beta or edit my story. I've noticed a horrendous number of little mistakes that I've missed, and I can only assume that it's because I'm looking at it with the same eyes that originally wrote it. If you're interested, please PM me.**

**Finally, (I know, you're all probably shouting, "GET ON WITH IT!"), I want to let everybrony know that although this chapter is shorter than others, the next one will be considerably longer. And sillier. Once again, reviews are awesome and I love them!**

**POV: Rodney (Firemane)**

Chapter Four

"Hope"

Rod sat on the floor and tried his hardest not to cry any more. He no longer felt the irresistible compulsion to bawl his eyes out now that the Purple Pony _Her_ _name is something like Sparky Vampire, isn't it?_ had cast her spell. No, he wanted to cry for a very different reason. He could move his legs.

"Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry everyone!" Gwen exclaimed. "I never act like that usually! I just couldn't help myself…"

Even though Rod had been crying nonstop for the last ten minutes, he had still been paying attention. He wasn't completely clueless about what was going on.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was planning on going to a hospital later anyways." Nick rubbed his head and grinned. "Besides, spells screw things up. I've seen it a thousand times on the show."

Sticks turned to Nick. "You're talking about the 'My Little Pony' show, right? Can someone tell me how people can be sucked into a television show? And an obnoxious one at that?"

Rods tilted his head, mind racing. _What? My Little Pony? No way…_

"IT'S NOT AN OBNOXIOUS SHOW!" Nick, Penn, and Cyrus all shouted at once. Everyone turned to look at them. Nick looked defiant, Penn smiled unsurely, and Cyrus blushed himself purple.

Rod opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by Rainbow Blast, or whatever her name was. "Not to interrupt you ponies, because I'd never do that," Applejap snorted. "But what the hay are you talking about? 'My little pony' is a term of endearment. Why are you saying it's a show?"

The white and purple pony _Rarehitty?_ gasped. "Oh, I just had the most MARVELOUS idea! A fashion show entitled 'My Little Ponies'! I could showcase my talents for all Equestria to see by designing dresses for the most beeeeea-utiful fillies in the land. It would garner so much attention that EVERYPONY would know my name! Oh, what a wonderful idea!" Everypony stared at her. She smiled, obviously embarrassed, and said, "Oh, but by all means, continue."

"Back on Earth, which is where we come from, there is a show called 'My Little Pony', which is about s-" Nick began, but was quickly stopped by Penn.

"NOOOOO!" Penn shouted, shoving a hoof over Nick's mouth. "You could break everything! Remember what happened when a certain somepony went back in time to warn herself about what the future had to bring? The entire future was changed! If you keep talking, you'll create a paradox!"

Nicks eyes were wide as he looked at the pony holding his limb in front of his mouth. "Mmm, mm-mmay." Penn apparently understood, because he lowered his hoof.

Rainbow shook her head, rainbow mane flinging all around her. "Okay, I didn't get a word you just said. Can you say that so everypony can understand?"

Rarehitty and Applejaxs nodded their agreement, but Twilight was the first to speak. "Wait. If you give us this information you'll create a paradox? A wrinkle in the space-time continuum?" Penn and Nick nodded solemnly. "Alright. Sorry girls, but Princess Celestia has taught me that the greatest risk facing a magic user is a disruption of the space-time. The entire universe could be destroyed with one false action!" The three curious ponies gasped in shock.

_But wait, _Rodney thought to himself. _Wouldn't our own appearance here have already created a paradox? _He opened his mouth once more to speak, but Penn was faster.

"But wait. Wouldn't our own appearance here have already created a paradox?" Penns mouth fell so far down that he looked like he was about to eat a whole horse. _That figure of speech takes a very cannibalistic turn here._

"Hey, don't over think it. Your brain will explode." Nick nodded his head solemnly after he spoke.

Sticks shook his head, his rugged mane swinging back and forth slightly. "ENOUGH!" he shouted. "We don't need these metaphysical discussions about subjects that are about as real as magic!" He glaced at Twilight and his cheeks reddened. "Or, as real as… as… as something not real! We just need to know how we got here and how to get back! Nothing else matters." His flanks heaved after his outburst. "I'm sorry everypony, it's just getting to me. Twilight, you were saying something about how that box brought us here?"

Twilight smiled as Sticks turned to her. _What's going on with those two? Aww man, I thought Sticks was a normal kind of dude. Does he have a crush on a unicorn? And does that unicorn like him back? Gosh, that sounds so retarded, even just in my head._

"Yes, I was. I was going to say that from what I could ascertain, the capsule was created to cast a single interdimensional Omnidirectional Teleportation Retriever spell. I had thought this was entirely theoretical magic before we found the box, and my mind still reels at the implications of its existence. Our entire view of magic and the fabric of the universe could have been shifted just because Pinkie pressed that button. It would be Pinkie, wouldn't it?" Applecerial, Rainbow Flash, and Rarepretty _I really wish I was better at names_… all nodded.

"Anyways, to make a long explination short-" _Too late…_ "I have no idea how this brought you here. The spell was gone so quickly after it was cast and left so little residue after it was gone that I saw nothing! And I have no idea how to get you back where you came from."

"Oh…" Sticks said weakly. "Well, why don't you just look at the box again? Surely you could figure something out?" The other ponies nodded their agreement, but Twilight hung her head.

"The box disappeared when the spell was cast. I don't have it anymore."

Sticks groaned and sat on the ground. "So, is there any way else to find out how to get us home?"

Twilight seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I could write a letter to Princess Celestia… but Spike's at Sugarcube Corner, and the Princess is probably busy having lunch now anyways."

As if following a cue, the rainbow pegasus's stomach grumbled incredibly loudly.

"Hey, speaking of lunch and Sugarcube Corner, why don't we go get some food and keep talking there?"

Her request was greeted with a chorus of agreement.

"Yea', let's go. I'm starvin'!"

"Yes, I concur with Rainbow Dash. Lunch would be an impeccably good choice."

"Count me in! I've always wanted to see it in person! Plus, food sounds amazing right now"

"Oh man, this is gonna be awesome! It'll be way better than all my other dreams! Hey, don't look at me like that Gwen. I'm only joking."

Rod began to say _"Yes, I'm hungry as well," _but once more, he was cut off.

Sticks looked at all the ponies nodding around him and shrugged. "Sounds good to me. If we can't do anything to get back, eating sounds like as good a plan as any. I've been hungry since I got here anyways. It's kinda weird."

_He does seem to say weird a lot…_

Twilight smiled. "Alright, Sugarcube Corner it is! Let's go."

Everypony got up and walked to the door of the library-in-a-tree. Everypony except Rod, that is.

Cyrus turned back before walking out the door. "You coming dude?"

Rod stood shakily to his feet for the first time since he was a toddler. He felt tears well up in his eyes again. But this time, they were tears of joy and hope.

"Yeah. I'm coming."

**AN #2:**

**Although I posted this on chapter 2, I want everypony to know that my OC pics are now posted to a blog. The link is in my profile. I'd like to hear what you guys think about the characters. Who's your favorite? Who would you like to hear more of? The next chapter is from the point of view of one of our favorite of the mane six, but I'm not sure who gets the next chapter. You guys decide! Hoping to update soon!**

**Render42 **


	5. Surprise

**AN:**

**Once again, I'm back earlier than anticipated. I just can't help myself, I feel like an addict. I was planning on making this chapter considerably longer, but I decided to break it into three parts because it was too much for me. **

**Also, to answer a question that I was asked, all that has happened so far is an introduction, just as the next several chapters will be. I do have an epic story in mind, but I'm not a fan of writing "and so time passes…" I am going somewhere, it'll just take me a bit to get there, that's all.**

**So, without further ado, here is the next chapter!**

**POV: Rainbow Dash**

Chapter Five

"Surprise!"

Ten ponies walked out of the library. Nine of them were walking, but of those, only three managed to walk down the road without falling every few steps. The one pony who was not walking hovered over their heads, barely containing her snickers. _Man, these ponies have to be the least coordinated bunch I have ever seen in my life! I'd be crying if the pegesai tried any flight at all. They'd probably make Fluttershy look like a Wonderbolt! _Rainbow Dash giggled at the thought. She looked down at the stumblers, and her grin grew to almost Pinkie-like proportions. The ridiculousness of their gait was just too much for her.

The stallion named Sticks seemed to be walking the best, but just as Rainbow thought this, he managed to forget to lift his front right leg on time. This caused him to fall over, knocking green mare that was walking next to him over. Rainbow couldn't stifle her laughter this time, and neither could Twilight. Rainbow's unicorn friend tried to cover her laugh with a cough, but she couldn't hide her snort from her friends.

_Really, what is with that mare anyways? She's acting really weird._ Rainbow wasn't distracted by her friend for long, as the show below her continued to unfold.

Nick the joker managed to trip on the same rock three times, Penn the egghead was so busy looking at everything around him that he stepped on Cyrus the crybaby's tail.

Cyrus jumped into the air with a cry of pain. But rather than coming back down to the ground like a normal pony would, his wings began flapping, which caused him to remain airborne. Penn and the pony with the red hair gaped at him. Cyrus and Rainbow Dash gasped simultaneously, but a second later, Cyrus fell to the ground with a resounding _THUMP! _as his rump hit the ground. All the ponies gasped, even the two who were barely managing to pull themselves onto their hooves.

"Did you see that? I flew!" Cyrus jumped back to his feet, showing a level of coordination Rainbow hadn't expected. "I bet I can do it again. Someone step on my tail so I can try!"

Nick chuckled. "You don't have to ask me that twice." He pounced on Cyrus's tail in a way that would have put Opal to shame, which caused Cyrus to leap into the air once more. His wings flapped weakly, but he didn't stay in the air for long at all, and this time he didn't have the advantage of having remained stationary above the ground for any length of time. He rapidly fell to the earth, face first. The smack that resulted as he nosedived back to the ground was even louder than the thump from before.

Rainbow snickered. "Silly pony, you can't fly like that. It takes a while for a baby pegasus to get a hang of her wings… and you're pretty much a baby pegasus." Cyrus glared up at her, his face a deep purple as he mumbled something about a self-assured doggie.

Penn glaced at him. "Rainbow is correct. Everything I've read or ascertained seems to indicate that control of a pegasus's wings or a unicorn's magic beyond a purely instinctive level takes a considerable amount of time. That's why some baby pegasai or unicorn can achieve feats that most young members of the same type would struggle to reproduce. There are many examples of this on the… thing." He stumbled over the last words. _What are those ponies hiding? I get that they're all super special kinds of ponies back wherever they're from, but that doesn't mean that they have to not tell us stuff. Especially me! I love knowing stuff!_

Penn looked at Gwen. "You have any idea what they're talking about?"

Gwen shook her head. "Nope, I'm clueless about this."

The group continued walking down main street, but Twilight looked pensive. She turned to Applejack and Rarity. "Hey girls, did you happen to notice that the streets were completely empty when you came to the library?"

Applejack shook her head, her braided mane almost hitting Rarity in the face. This caused the prissy mare to frown disapprovingly, but Applejack didn't notice. "Naw, we didn'. Why do ya ask?"

Twilight replied, "Because, in case you haven't noticed, we're the only ponies on the street! Where is everypony?"

Rainbow Dash looked around. Upon seeing that Twilight was correct, she felt her jaw drop. _How did I not notice that nopony was looking at me? Man, I must be losing my touch… Wait, why isn't anypony looking at me? Don't they know that I'm awesome and deserve to be watched all the time? I'll just have to show them! Maybe I can get a sonic rainboom to work again… _Rainbow's thoughts continued along these lines, and she barely payed the rest of the group any mind.

"Oh my, you are quite correct Twilight! I wonder, why would everypony would be inside on such a lovely day?" Rarity inquired. "There were many ponies out on the street when we arrived at the library. Why, many of them were gathered right here! I believe Vinyl Scratch was preparing an impromptu performance. Why would they all have left?"

Penn cocked his head to the side as if considering something. He suddenly gasped and turned to Nick and Cyrus. "Guys! What happens when there are new ponies in town?"

Nick tried to scratch his head with his hoof but failed. "Umm… if it's a zebra everyone runs away…"

Cyrus shrugged, no mean feat for a pony who was still lying on the ground. "The mayor makes a big speech?"

Penn sighed, his head hanging down. "No, what does PINKIE do when there are new ponies in town?"

Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Nick, and Cyrus simultaneously exclaimed, "A party!"

Rainbow grinned, "When Pinkie throws a party, I'm SOOO there!"

"Rainbow, when Pinkie Pie throws a party, EVERYPONY'S there!" Penn cried.

"Hey, how do you know so much about Pinkie Pie's parties? I thought you were from Earf or something!" Rainbow glared Penn suspiciously.

"Rainbow! Remember, re can't risk a paradox!" Twilight practically yelled at the pegasus.

Suddenly, Nick seemed to realize something, and his face contorted in fear. "Penn! If we could break the space-time-whatsit just by saying one wrong thing, how will we answer all the questions everypony will be asking when we meet them? What do we say when we're asked where we're from? What happens when they ask what our cutie marks mean? What if we say one wrong thing and we blink out of existence?" He fell to the ground and covered his eyes in fear.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "What a drama queen."

Penn looked at the cowering pony. "Obviously, we aren't going to blink out of existence just by saying something. If we could, we already would have. At least Twilight has figured out part of where we're from because of the context of our discussions." Twilight nodded her agreement. "But it doesn't make sense to take any unnecessary risks. We should all just agree on a cover story and try to avoid any personal questions."

Cyrus nodded from on the ground. _Why doesn't that silly pony get up already? What is he, a newborn colt?_ "Hey, we should all say we're from Manehattan!"

Penn considered this. "No, because some ponies here have been to Manehattan before, and they'd know our accents are fake. Any other ideas?"

Nick had one apparently. "Las Pegasus?"

"Do we look like we all have wings?"

"Oh, hadn't thought of that. Fillydelphia?"

"Well, that might work. How much do you know about it?"

"Umm, it's a city?"

"Not good enough. You have any ideas Sticks?" Everypony looked at Sticks. _Kinda getting sick of this Sticks dude. He's such an attention hog._

"Hey, don't look at me! I don't know anything about this place!"

Gwen nodded her head. "Me either. It's up to you guys."

Red-mane shrugged.

The ponies continued naming cities, but every time, Penn shot them down.

"Uhh, Baltimare?"

"No, I think Octavia has a cousin there."

"Well, how about Oaklahomah?

"No, Fluttershy's friends have probably been there before." _How the hay does he know Fluttershy too? How does he know everyone here if he's not from here?_

"Ooh-ooh, what about Stallionsberg?"

"Is that even a city?"

Rainbow Dash sighed and stopped listening about then. She looked at her friends, and they too were looking quite bored. _Well, this is so much more fun than what I could be doing right now. Like, for instance, napping…_

Twilight finally had enough, and she interrupted the three stallions. "Hey, how about I say that you six are old friends who are visiting from Canterlot? That way, you can avoid any awkward questions, since I could answer them for you. I do agree that not everypony needs to know that you aren't really ponies, but you guys are making WAY too big a deal out of it." She began walking toward Sugarcube Corner, with Applejack and Rarity hot on her heels.

Sticks grinned, "We should listen to her. She seems to know what she's talking about with basically everything." He loped happily after Twilight.

The red-maned stallion laughed. Rainbow looked at him quizzically. "What's so funny?"

Red-mane snorted. "Uhh, nothing really. I'll tell you later." He smiled sweetly. _Yeah, smile all pretty-like if you want, but you're not fooling me. I've got my eye on all of you._

Cyrus looked at red. "What's your name anyways, dude? Everyone else shared theirs, but you were too busy sobbing."

Red looked kind of sheepish. "It's Rod. And I couldn't help myself." Rod looked down at the ground and slowly began following Stick's trail. He looked… happy as he watched his hooves. _Too happy. There's something fishy going on here. And I'm going to get to the bottom of it, space-time-whatsit or no space-time-whatsit._

When the group arrived at Sugarcube Corner's doorway, Nick turned to face the group. "No matter what happens in there, remember why we're here. THE FOOD!" Nick suddenly opened the door and ran inside. After a moment his voice rang from inside. "Hey, I thought there was going to be a party in here!"

The rest of the group entered the sweetshop and were met by a great shock. Pinkie was nowhere in sight.

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Well, aren't you guys glad that you made that amazing cover story?"

**AN:**

**Well, there you have it. I rewrote this chapter so much that my head hurts. Rainbow Dash is probably the hardest character for me to write, simply because she is one of the most complicated characters. On one hand, she is very egocentric and is obsessed with being the center of attention, but on the other she is very caring and loyal. It's really hard to find a balance between the two! I settled on skeptical and selfish because I thought it would make the dynamics more interesting, but let me know if you thought it wasn't a good fit.**

**Anyways, next chapter is from the point of view of Penn. Also, I'll have a special announcement about a sneak peak of a dark future in the next chapter, so stay tuned! As always, reviewers get /muffins from me, and I really like them!**

**Render42**


End file.
